New Adventures

I mentioned on Monday about some peace we've had with a decision that was made, and of course, had to leave ya'll hanging. I'm not a fan of cliff hangers so I thought to myself, "Self, you can't leave these people hanging. You wouldn't like it either."

 

Self is pretty wise.

 

No, we're not moving. Nor are we having babies through pregnancy or adoption (yet). Nobody got a new job. And yes, we're still married.

source

 

It's actually quite the exciting news we have, a bit unnerving because of the unknown, but nevertheless we're resting in God's guiding hands on this one. Let me back up a little bit...

 

A couple of months ago, we received a letter from the County Commissioners' Office notifying us that a wonderful condominium complex was in the works of receiving approval and being built right next to our neighborhood. We thought, "Great! Our property value will rise and will only help this house sell one day." We were invited to join in on the meeting where they vote on the building plans, but like almost all of our neighbors, none of us went because we were under the impression that this could only be good.

 

Our wise HOA manager decided to go and sit in on the meeting as our representative. So glad he did because when he returned, we discovered that the condominium complex being built is part of the re-entry program we have here for homeless and transients (people coming out of prison).

 

Here's where the hypocritical, ugly, snobby Christian came out (I'm still ashamed of myself). Our immediate response: UGH GOD NO!! WE CAN'T LIVE NEXT TO THOSE PEOPLE. WE'VE GOTTA MOVE. CALL THE REALTOR! CALL FRIENDS! WE'VE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!

 

So Christian, right? And then we were served a nice dose of humble pie (it didn't taste good, if you're wondering). We realized that it's so easy for us to GO into other communities to love and serve on others; it's so easy for us to GO to another country to share the Gospel there. But when God BROUGHT the need to our backdoor (almost literally), it wasn't part of our plan. The reason it's so easy to go and seek others is because, at the end of the day, you can leave it. You can come home to your nice things, your comfortable routine, all the pretty prettiness. Am I right?
 

 

I know we appear clinically insane to some folks, but we're actually really excited about this {now}. God is bringing an opportunity to love on others, to support them in their efforts to get back on their feet. They are already facing so much condemnation and judgment from society - we do not have the authority to make those judgments. Judge your brother/sister, you will be judged by the Creator (Romans 14:10). And good news for us, we have a couple of friends who are part of the re-entry program and they are helping us to take the necessary steps to educate ourselves on what to expect, not to expect, etc.

 

So friends, we ask for prayer. Prayers that as more develops, we will remain at peace with our decision. Pray that God will use this opportunity to really bring people to know Him. And honestly, just pray that people don't get mean and nasty about the whole situation. We were there in the beginning, and it's not very nice.